A History of Public Health Brief Essay

“Enlightenment concepts of health as a social value and a political right provided a rationalization for reforms dictated by the economic costs of premature mortality from epidemic diseases, created by rapid urbanization as the pace of industrialization increased” (Porter, 2005, p. 109).

So, why did this occur? In fact, this occurred because in the late 19-th century, the age of Enlightenment, people were interested in finding new approaches to improve the health of population. The philosophy of the Enlightenment era was promoted by democratic ideas that addressed the needs of all people. According to researchers, “Thomas Jefferson declared that sick populations were the product of sick political systems”(Porter, 2005, p. 56). People believed that their political system could influence the quality of health care.

Moreover, it was very important to conduct reforms, which could make the concept of health not only a social value for all people, but also a political right. The fundamental rights of individuals should be protected by the government. In other words, such challenges as epidemics, community health problems and poor health care services were addressed by special committees. The citizen’s charter of health reflected the ideology of Enlightenment society. It was responsibility of each citizen to properly maintain his/her own health for the benefit of the whole society. For example, the American Declaration of Independence reflected the significance of health in the pursuit of happiness. In general, the Enlightenment concepts of health helped to develop public health policy. The provision of health care services, the prevention of diseases and epidemics helped to improve health of all citizens.

Thus, I can draw some similarities to current public health policies. The broad policy framework for the promotion of public health is based on the ideology of the Enlightenment society. Many important public health policies are included into current government policies (Baggott, 2011). This fact means that the functioning of current public health system, including health insurance policy and Medicare, contribute to the improvement of the health of the nation.

 

References

Baggott, R. (2011). Public Health: Policy and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan.

Porter, D. (2005). Health, Civilization and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times. Routledge.